VEGETABLES. 327 
at Kalamazoo—they have a national reputation—plant their 
celery in trenches or on the surface? 
Mr. Wilcox: I believe the old method was to plant in quite 
‘deep trenches, but modern growers are making the trenches 
quite shallow. Iam not prepared to say just how deep the 
trenches should be. I wish to call attention to one other mat- 
ter in connection with celery growing. One of the difficulties 
of celery growing is encountered right at the start. The seed 
is very small and hard to germinate, which is a fact that a great 
many people do not properly appreciate. I was a little sur- 
* prised at our friend Sampson recommending us to soak the seed 
two weeks. I never dared soak seeds thatlength of time. I 
saw a little device the other day that struck me as being just 
what farmers want for starting celery, tomatoes or other plants. 
It would be particularly well adapted to celery. Instead of 
starting them in a few old pans and boxes to carry around and 
make dirt in the sunniest windows of the house, just make a 
little box, say three feet long, eighteen inches wide and about 
one foot deep. Place slats down about four inches in the box, 
and on top of these slats place small boxes, common cigar 
boxes, with the dirt and the seed planted in them. Cover the 
whole box with a light or lights of glass set in a frame, and you 
have a miniature hotbed in which you can water the plants very 
readily. At the end of the box make a little door which you 
can open to secure the proper degree of warmth. Then just 
keep a few bricks or anything of that kind upon the stove, and 
open the door and lay two or three or four of the bricks in the 
bottom of the box. They will retain their heat a long time. 
I think this is the nicest plan I have ever seen for starting 
celery plants in the house. 
A Member: Did you ever try hot water on celery plants? 
Mr. Sampson: I never put any warmer water on them than I 
could bear my hand in comfortably. As my friend has brought 
up the hot water subject, I presume some of our members will 
feel interested in knowing that we use hot water on. our pea 
seed where the weevil has got in them. We use it only to kill 
the weevil or some insect of that kind. 
Dr. Frisselle: What time would you recommend sowing the 
seed in a hotbed? 
Mr. Sampson: Regarding the time of sowing the seed, that 
must vary with one’s ability to take care of the plants after the 
‘seed has come up. I have built a cheap greenhouse, which 
probably enables me to start a little earlier than the majority 
